Proof of The Preservation of the Quran

By Sabeel Ahmed

There are hundreds of religions flourishing around the world: Christianity,

Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Bahaism, Babism,
Zoroastrianism,
Mormonism, Jehovas Witnesses, Jainism, Confucianism etc.
And each of
these religions claim that their scripture is preserved from the day it
was revealed (written) until our time. A religious belief is as authentic
as the
authenticity of the scripture it follows. And for any scripture
to be labeled as
authentically preserved it should follow some concrete
and rational criteria.

Imagine this scenario:

A professor gives a three hour lecture to his students. Imagine still

that none of the
students memorized this speech of the professor or wrote
it down. Now forty years
after that speech, if these same students decided
to replicate professor's complete
speech word for word, would they be able
to do it? Obviously not. Because the only
two modes of preservation historically
is through writing and memory.

Therefore, for any claimants to proclaim that their scripture is preserved

in
purity, they have to provide concrete evidence that the Scripture was
written in
its entirety AND memorized in its entirety from the time it
was revealed to our
time, in a continuous and unbroken chain. If the memorization
part doesn't exist
parallel to the written part to act as a check and balance
for it, then there is a
genuine possibility that the written scripture
may loose its purity through
unintentional and intentional interpolations
due to scribal errors, corruption by
the enemies, pages getting decomposed
etc, and these errors would be
concurrently incorporated into subsequent
texts, ultimately loosing its purity
through ages.

Now, of all the religions mentioned above, does any one of them possess
their
scriptures in its entirety BOTH in writing AND in memory from the
day of its
revelation until our time.

None of them fit this required criteria, except one: This unique
scripture is the
Qur'an - revelation bestowed to Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h)
1,418 years ago, as
a guidance for all of humankind.

Lets analyze the claim of the preservation of the

Quran...

Memorization
'In the ancient times, when writing was scarcely used, memory and
oral
transmission was exercised and strengthened to a degree now almost
unknown'
relates Michael Zwettler.(1)

Prophet Muhammad (S): The First Memorizer

It was in this 'oral' society that Prophet Muhammad (S) was born in
Mecca in the
year 570 C.E. At the age of 40, he started receiving divine
Revelations from the
One God, Allah, through Archangel Gabriel. This process
of divine revelations
continued for about 22.5 years just before he passed
away.

Prophet Muhammad (S) miraculously memorized each revelation and used

to
proclaim it to his Companions. Angel Gabriel used to refresh the Quranic
memory
of the Prophet each year.
Currently both in the Muslim and non-Muslim countries thousands of schools
with each instructing tens of hundreds of students the art of memorizing
the
entire Quran. In the city of Chicago itself, there are close to 40+
Mosques, with
many of them holding class for children instructing them
the art of Quranic
memorization.

Further Points of Consideration:

* Muslims recite Quran from their memory in all of their five daily
prayers. *
Once a year, during the month of Fasting (Ramadan), Muslims
listen to the
complete recitation of the Quran by a Hafiz (memorizer of
the entire Quran) * It's
a tradition among Muslims that before any speech
or presentation, marriages,
sermons, Quran is recited.

Conclusion:

Quran is the only book, religious or secular, on the face of this planet
that has
been completely memorized by millions. These memorizers range
from ages 6
and up, both Arabic and non-Arabic speakers, blacks, whites,
Orientals, poor and
wealthy.

Thus the process of memorization was continuous , from Prophet

Muhammad's (S) time to ours with an unbroken chain.

"The method of transmitting the Quran from one generation to the

next by having
he young memorize the oral recitation of their elders had
mitigated somewhat from
the beginning the worst perils of relying solely
on written records..." relates John
Burton (12)

"This phenomenon of Quranic recital means that the text has traversed
the
centuries in an unbroken living sequence of devotion. It cannot, therefore,
be
handled as an antiquarian thing, nor as a historical document out of
a distant past.
The fact of hifz (Quranic Memorization) has made the Qur'an
a present possession
through all the lapse of Muslim time and given it
a human currency in every
generation never allowing its relegation to a
bare authority for reference alone"
reflects Kenneth Cragg (13)

Written Text of the Quran

Prophet's Time:

Prophet Muhammad (S) was very vigilant in preserving the Quran in the
written
form from the very beginning up until the last revelation. The
Prophet himself
was unlettered, did not knew how to read and write, therefore
he called upon his
numerous scribes to write the revelation for him. Complete
Quran thus existed in
written form in the lifetime of the Prophet.

Whenever a new revelation use to come to him, the Prophet would immediately
call one of his scribes to write it down.

'Some people visited Zaid Ibn Thabit (one of the scribes of the Prophet)
and asked
him to tell them some stories about Allah's Messenger. He replied:
"I was his
(Prophet's) neighbor, and when the inspiration descended on
him he sent for me and
I went to him and wrote it down for him..." (14)

Narrated by al-Bara': There was revealed 'Not equal are those believers
who sit
(home) and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah' (4:95).
The Prophet said:
'Call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the ink
pot and scapula bone.' Then he
(Prophet) said: 'Write: Not equal are those
believers...' (15)
Zaid is reported to have said: 'We use to compile the Qur'an from
small scraps in the
presence of the Apostle'. (16)

'The Prophet, while in Madinah, had about 48 scribes who use to write
for him'. (17)

Abdullah Ibn 'Umar relates:... 'The Messenger of Allah (S) said:

"Do not take the
Qur'an on a journey with you, for I am afraid lest it
should fall into the hands of the
enemy"' (18)

During the Prophet's last pilgrimage, he gave a sermon in which he

said: 'I have left
with you something which if you will hold fast t it
you will never fall into error - a
plain indication, the Book of God (Quran)
and the practice of his Prophet...' (19)

'Besides the official manuscripts of the Quran kept with the Prophet,
many of his
companions use to possess their own written copies of the revelation'.
(20)

'A list of Companions of whom it is related that they had their own
written
collections included the following: Ibn Mas'ud, Ubay bin Ka'b,
Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu
Musa, Hafsa, Anas bin Malik, Umar, Zaid bin Thabit,
Ibn Al-Zubair, Abdullah ibn
Amr, Aisha, Salim, Umm Salama, Ubaid bin Umar'.
(21)

'The best known among these (Prophet's Scribes) are: Ibn Masud, Ubay
bin Kab and
Zaid bin Thabit'. (22)

'Aisha and Hafsa, the wives of the Prophet had their own scripts
written after the
Prophet had died'. (23)

Conclusion:
The complete Quran was written down in front of the Prophet by several
of his
scribes and the companions possess their own copies of the Quran
in the
Prophet's lifetime. However the written material of the Quran in
the Prophet's
possession were not bounded between the two covers in the
form of a book,
because the period of revelation of the Qur'an continued
up until just a few days
before the Prophet's death. The task of collecting
the Qur'an as a book was
therefore undertaken by Abu Bakr, the first successor
to the Prophet.

Written Quran in First Generation:

At the battle of Yamama (633 CE), six months after the death of the
Prophet, a
number of Muslims, who had memorized the Quran were killed.
Hence it was
feared that unless a written official copy of the Quran were
prepared, a large part
of revelation might be lost.

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit al-Ansari, one of the scribes of the Revelation:
Abu Bakr
sent for me after the casualties among the warriors (of the battle)
of Yamama
(where a great number of Qurra (memorizers of the Quran, were
killed). Umar was
present with Abu Bakr who said: "Umar has come to me
and said, the people have
suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the
battle) of Yamama, and I am afraid that
there will be some casualties among
the Qurra at other places, whereby a large part
of the Quran may be lost,
unless you collect it (in one manuscript, or book)...so Abu
Bakr said to
me (Zaid bin Thabit): You are a wise young man and we do not suspect
you
(of telling lies or of forgetfulness) and you used to write the Divine
Inspiration
for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect
it (in one
manuscript)'...So I started locating the Quranic material and
collecting it from
parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from
the memories of men (who
know it by heart)..." (24)

Now, a committee was formed to under take the task of collecting the
written
Quranic material in the form of a book. The committee was headed
by Zaid bin
Thabit, the original scribe of the Prophet, who was also a
memorizer of the
complete Quran.

'...Zaid bin Thabit had committed the entire Quran to memory...'

(25)
The compilers in this committee, in examining written material submitted
to
them, insisted on very stringent criteria as a safeguard against any
errors.

1. The material must have been originally written down in the presence
of the
Prophet; nothing written down later on the basis of memory alone
was to be
accepted. (26) 2. The material must be confirmed by two witnesses,
that is to say, by
two trustworthy persons testifying that they themselves
had heard the Prophet
recite the passage in question. (27)

'The manuscript on which the Qur'an was collected, remained with

Abu Bakr till
Allah took him unto Him, and then with Umar (the second successor),
till Allah took
him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, 'Umar's
daughter (and wife of the
Prophet)'. (28)

This copy of the Quran, prepared by the committee of competent companions

of
the Prophet (which included Memorizers of the Quran) was unanimous approved
by the whole Muslim world. If they committee would have made a error even
of a
single alphabet in transcribing the Quran, the Qurra (memorizers of
the Quran)
which totaled in the tens of hundreds would have caught it right
away and
correct it. This is exactly where the neat check and balance system
of
preservation of the Quran comes into play, but which is lacking for
any other
scripture besides the Quran.

Official written copy by Uthman

The Quran was originally revealed in Quraishi dialect of Arabic. But

to facilitate
the people who speak other dialects, in their understanding
and comprehension,
Allah revealed the Quran finally in seven dialects of
Arabic. During the period of
Caliph Uthman (second successor to the Prophet)
differences in reading the
Quran among the various tribes became obvious,
due to the various dialectical
recitations. Dispute was arising, with each
tribe calling its recitation as the correct
one. This alarmed Uthman, who
made a official copy in the Quraishi dialect, the
dialect in which the
Quran was revealed to the Prophet and was memorized by
his companions.
Thus this compilation by Uthman's Committee is not a different
version
of the Quran (like the Biblical versions) but the same original revelation
given to the Prophet by One God, Allah.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at

the time when
the people of Sham (Syria) and the people of Iraq were waging
war to conquer
Armenia and Azherbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their differences
in the recitation
of the Quran, so he said to Uthman, 'O chief of the Believers!
Save this nation before
they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and
Christians did before'. So Uthman
sent a message to Hafsa saying, 'Send
us the manuscripts of the Quran so that we
may compile the Quranic materials
in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to
you'. Hafsa sent it to
Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, 'Abdullah bin
Az-Zubair,
Said bin Al-As and Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the
manuscripts
in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, 'In case you
disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, then write it
in their
(Quraishi) tongue'. They did so, and when they had written many
copies, Uthman
sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had
copied and ordered that
all the other Quranic materials whether written
in fragmentary manuscripts or
whole copies, be burnt..." (29)

Again a very stringent criteria was set up by this Committee to prevent

any
alteration of the Revelation.

1. The earlier recension (Original copy prepared by Abu Bakr) was

to serve as the
principal basis of the new one. (30) 2. Any doubt that
might be raised as to the
phrasing of a particular passage in the written
text was to be dispelled by
summoning persons known to have learned the
passage in question from the
Prophet. (31) 3. Uthman himself was to supervise
the work of the Council. (32)

When the final recension was completed, Uthman sent a copy of it to

each of the
major cities of Makka, Damascus, Kufa, Basra and Madina.
The action of Uthman to burn the other copies besides the final recension,
though
obviously drastic, was for the betterment and harmony of the whole
community
and was unanimously approved by the Companions of the Prophet.

Zaid ibn Thabit is reported to have said: "I saw the Companions of
Muhammad
(going about) saying, 'By God, Uthman has done well! By God, Uthman
has done
well!" (33)

Another esteemed Companion Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas said: "I
saw the
people assemble in large number at Uthman's burning of the prescribed
copies (of
the Quran), and they were all pleased with his action; not a
one spoke out against
him". (34)

Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin of the Prophet and the fourth successor
to the Prophet
commented: "If I were in command in place of Uthman, I would
have done the
same". (35)

Of the copies made by Uthman, two still exist to our day. One is in
the city of
Tashkent, (Uzbekistan) and the second one is in Istanbul (Turkey).
Below is a brief
account of both these copies:

1. The copy which Uthman sent to Madina was reportedly removed by

the
Turkish authorities to Istanbul, from where it came to Berlin during
World
War I. The Treaty of Versailles, which concluded World War I, contains
the
following clause:

'Article 246: Within six months from the coming into force of the
present Treaty,
Germany will restore to His Majesty, King of Hedjaz, the
original Koran of Caliph
Othman, which was removed from Madina by the Turkish
authorities and is stated
to have been presented to the ex-Emperor William
II". (36)

'This manuscript then reached Istanbul, but not Madina (Where it

now resides)'.
(37)

2. The second copy in existence is kept in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

'It may be the Imam
(master) manuscript or one of the other copies made
at the time of Uthman'. (38)

It Came to Samarkand in 890 Hijra (1485) and remained there till

1868. Then it was
taken to St.Petersburg by the Russians in 1869. It remained
there till 1917. A
Russian orientalist gave a detailed description of it,
saying that many pages were
damaged and some were missing. A facsimile,
some 50 copies, of this mushaf (copy)
was produced by S.Pisareff in 1905.
A copy was sent to the Ottoman Sultan 'Abdul
Hamid, to the Shah of Iran,
to the Amir of Bukhara, to Afghanistan, to Fas and some
important Muslim
personalities. One copy is now in the Columbia University
Library (U.S.A.).
(39)

'The Manuscript was afterwards returned to its former place and reached
Tashkent
in 1924, where it has remained since'. (40)

Conclusion:
'Two of the copies of the Qur'an which were originally prepared in
the time of
Caliph Uthman, are still available to us today and their text
and arrangement can
be compared, by anyone who cares to do, with any other
copy of the Quran, be it in
print or handwritten, from any place or period
of time. They will be found identical'.
(41)

It can now be proclaimed, through the evidences provided above, with

full
conviction and certainty that the Prophet memorized the entire Quran,
had it
written down in front of him through his scribes, many of his companions
memorized the entire revelation and in turn possess their own private copies
for
recitation and contemplation. This process of dual preservation of
the Quran in
written and in the memory was carried in each subsequent generation
till our
time, without any deletion, interpolation or corruption of this
Divine Book.
Sir Williams Muir states, " There is otherwise every security, internal
and external,
that we possess the text which Muhammad himself gave forth
and used". (42)

Sir William Muir continues, "There is probably no other book in the

world which
has remained twelve centuries (now fourteen) with so pure a
text". (43)

This divine protection provided to the Quran, the Last Reveled Guide
to
Humanity, is proclaimed by One God in the Quran:

We* (Allah) have, without doubt, send down the Message; and We will
assuredly
Guard it (from corruption)' (Quran - Chapter 15, Verse 9). *('We'
is the plural of
Majesty, and not the Christian plural of trinity)

Compare this divine and historical preservation of the Quran with any
literature,
be it religious or secular and it becomes evident that none
possess similar
miraculous protection. And as states earlier, a belief
is as authentic as the
authenticity of its scripture. And if any scripture
is not preserved, how can we be
certain that the belief arising out of
this scripture is divine or man made, and if
we are not sure about the
belief itself, then our salvation in the hereafter would
be jeopardized.
Thus this above evidence for the protection of the Quran from
any corruption
is a strong hint about its divine origin. We request all open
hearted persons
to read, understand and live the Quran, the 'Manual for
Mankind'.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

by Sabeel Ahmed

ChooseIslam@yahoo.com

References:

1. (1) (Michael Zwettler, The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry, p.14.
Ohio State Press: 1978
2. (Transmitted by Ibn Abbas, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari, 6.519, translated
by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan)
3. (Transmitted by Abu Hurayrah, collected in Sahih Al-Bukhari, 6.520,
translated
by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan)
4. (Transmitted by Uthman bin Affan, collected in Sahih Bukhari, 6.546,
translated
by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan).
5. (Jalal al-Din Suyuti, 'Al-Itqan fi-ulum al-Quran, Vol. I p.124)
6. (Ibn Hisham: Sira al-nabi, Cairo, n.d., Vol.I, p.206).
7. (Bukhari, 6.106)
8. (Al-Bukhari, 6.201)
9. ( Labib as-Said, the Recited Koran, Translated by Bernard Weiss, M.A.Rauf,
and Morroe Berger, The Darwon Press, Princton, New Jersey, 1975, pg.58).
10. ((Ibn al Jazari, Kitab al-Nash fi al-Qir'at al-Ashr, (Cairo al-Halabi,
n.d._ vol. 2,
p. 254, also Ahmad Makki al-Ansari, al-Difa' An al-Qur'an.
(Cairo, Dar al-
Ma'arif, 1973 C.E.), part I, p.120)
11. (Labib as-Said, the Recited Koran, Translated by Bernard Weiss, M.A.Rauf,
and Morroe Berger, The Darwon Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1975, pg.59)
12. (John Burton, An Introduction to the Hadith, p.27. Edinburgh University
Press: 1994)
13. (Kenneth Cragg, The Mind of the Qur'an, p.26. George Allah & Unwin:
1973)
14. (Tirmidhi, Mishkat al-Masabih, No. 5823)
15. (Bukhari, 6.512)
16. (Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.99)
17. (M.M.Azami, Kuttab al-Nabi,Beirut, 1974)
18. (Muslim, III, NO. 4606, also 4607, 4608; Bukhari, 4.233)
19. (Ibn Hisham, Sira al-nabi, p.651).
20. (Suyuti, Itqan, I, p.62).
21. (Ibn Abi Dawud: Masahif, p.14)
22. (Bayard Dodge: The fihrist of al-Nadim: A Tenth Century Survey of Muslim
Culture, New York, 1970, pp.53-63)
23. (Muwatta Imam Malik, Lahore, 1980, no.307, 308, translation by M.
Rahimuddin).
 24. ((Bukhari 6.201)
25. (Labib as-Said, The Recited Koran, translated by Bernard Weiss, et al.
1975,
p.21.
26. (Ibn Hajar, Fath, Vol. IX, p.10)
27. (ibid., p.11)
28. (Bukhari, 6.201)
29. (Bukhari, 6.510)
30. (Ibn Hajar, Bath, IX, p. 15)
31. (Suyuti, Itqan, Vol.I, p.59)
32. ((ibid., p.59).
33. (Naysaburi, al-,Nizam al-Din al-Hasan ibn Muhammad, Ghara'ib al-Quran
wa-ragha'ib
al-furqan. 4 vols. To date. Cairo, 1962).
34. ((Ibn Abi Dawud, p.12)
35. Zarkashi, al-, Badr al-Din, Al-Burhan fi-ulum al-Quran, Cairo, 1957, Vol.
I, p.
240.
36. (Fred L. Israel, Major Peace Treaties of Modern History, New York, Chelsea
House Pub., Vol. II, p. 1418 )
37. (Makhdum, op.cit., 1938, p.19).
38. (Ahmad Von Denffer, Ulum Al-Qur'an, Islamic Foundation, revised ed., 1994,
p.63)
39. (The Muslim World, Vol.30(1940), pp. 357-8.)
40. (Ahmad von Denffer, Ulum Al-Quran, Islamic Foundation, revised Ed., 1994,
p.63).
41. (ibid., p,64)
42. (Sir Williams Muir, Life of Mohamet, Vol.I. Introduction)
43. (ibid.)

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